Some people rely on disposable absorbent products in their everyday lives including, for example, disposable absorbent articles such as adult incontinence products, enuresis pants, training pants, and diapers. Many manufacturers of these absorbent articles seek to better meet the needs of users. For example, there is an ongoing need to improve fit, discretion, and leakage protection for many of these articles.
Some absorbent articles employ elasticization across the front and/or back of the article to keep the article snug against the wearer during use. Some of these articles employ a multiplicity of elastic strands within front and/or back waist panels of the article to provide the elasticization, while others employ elastomeric polymeric films, which are often sandwiched with one or more nonwoven layers.
Most absorbent articles include an absorbent member, constructed from wood pulp fluff, superabsorbent polymers, and/or other absorbent material to absorb fluids (e.g., urine) discharged by the user. The absorbent member is typically positioned in the crotch region of the article and extends forward and backward into the article's front and/or back regions. In some absorbent articles, the elastic members that extend across the front and/or back waist panels of the article overlap the absorbent member at various locations since the absorbent member extends forward/backward into the front/back waist regions of the article. Often, the tension of the elastic members tends to gather the absorbent member, or cause it to “bunch”. Such bunching of the absorbent member can create fit and discretion problems.
For example, an absorbent article that is bunched in its front and/or back waist region is less likely to fit snug against the body of the user during wear. As a result, the potential of the article leaking is significantly increased. Bunching also tends to make the article more bulky and therefore more visible under clothing thereby decreasing the article's discretion. These results are particularly problematic for incontinence articles, such as enuresis pants and adult pull-on style disposable absorbent underwear, as the wearers of these articles generally are embarrassed about their condition and wish to employ protection which is as discreet as possible.
To inhibit bunching of the absorbent member in some absorbent articles, the elasticization across the front and/or back of the article is at least partially deadened (i.e., rendered substantially non-elastomeric). Often times, however, the apparatus and processes used to deaden the elasticization result in the deadened areas being non-uniform. That is, the resulting deadened portions of the front and/or back of the articles have varying amounts of elasticization. Moreover, known apparatus for deadening the front and/or back regions of articles often limit the width of the web that can be deadened.
Thus, there remains a need for apparatus and processes of manufacturing articles that can provide for webs having greater widths and that result in a more uniform deadened portion.